It's Nice to Be Forewarned

More 20-knot-plus winds are forecast for sunday & monday in Hauraki Bay... Sleep patterns need not be altered this week-end in Europe!

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Brief side news. S&S, in trouble in the standings and on the water, requested a re-sail of its match agains Wight Lightining, but was turned down. The bitching and chewing from Team Dennis Conner is curious indeed: the complaint was about weak wind conditions at the start - exactly when they were competitive and beat the Brits.

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Recall that the Challengers give themselves parameters for building boats based on the weather conditions expected in the late Kiwi-summer. Which means that the boats built for the present season are unadapted and could experience sever damage. Thus patience is a virtue... [but not of your's truly !]

Letting our imaginations wander a bit, consider the scenarios... LR's fate was (for their supporters) downright depressing. Things have changed radically after 5 days of frenetic work to change almost everything on the boat. It's even hard to believe come to think of it... unless something like this was planned somewhere, somehow... If LR makes it to the America's Cup again then there will be much talk about that mythical week between the round robins...

Quick calculations also state a near certainty: two boats of group A are extremely likely to meet twice in the elimination rounds. Our illustration of the rules & how, according to standings and simply probabilistic values, the first two teams could meet in both the semis & finals. But assume slightly less probabilistic views; a loser of the quarter finals could very easily beat up on (presumed weaker) group B participants and make its way into the finals. So there is a very strong probability of having two teams meet in the finals when they've already squared off in the quarters or semis...

Sweet Dreams...